Tag: #abyssinia

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Ethiopia in the Bible

Melchizedek Priest and King of Salem

After the falling of the tower of Babel, mankind was scattered in confusion for many centuries, because of their inability to communicate correctly and clearly. That’s why the Tower of Babel is called by the Ethiopian Bible as Zerut ዝሩት, i.e. “Diaspora”.
From the lineage of Nimrod the Ethiopian, the builder of the Tower of Babel, came Melchizedek, that is also from the descent of Sem son of Noah the Ethiopian. Although in the Letter to Hebrew chapter 7 Melchizedek is said to be “without father and without mother”, because of his state of mystic deification and the absence in the books of Moses of any genealogy before his appearance, Ethiopian tradition knows exactly his origin and life.
From the Ethiopian Synaxaryum (Miyazia 6; Pagumen 3) we know that after the Flood, Melchizedek and Sem, guided by an angel of God, buried the corpse of Adam – brought into the Ark by Noah – within the “Golgotha” or “Place of the Skull”, where Christ had to be crucified, to baptize with His own blood and water the body of Adam, lying within the soil.
The Tomb of Adam became the temple where Melchizedek ministered His priesthood, and around that place he founded Jerusalem. “Salem” was the name of His wife, that He immortalized by the name of the city. Iyerusaliem ኢየሩሳሌም is interpreted as Iyor Selam ኢዮር ሰላም, being “Iyor” the name of one of the seven heavens, and eartly Jerusalem is just a reflection of the heavenly Jerusalem. Another interpretation is Yrieeyu Selam ይሬእዩ ሰላም “They see peace”, to which Christ seem to refer when speaking to the incredolous city:
“If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” (Luke 19,42)
When Abraham met Melchizedek, and gave him a tribute, then Melchisedek was recognized in his royalty, the same royal order of the Ethiopian Monarchy. In fact, the son of Melchizedek Etiel was sent by his father to settle at the source of the Nile: he was the first one to be called “Ethiops” and he was the progenitor of the Ethiopian people and kings until Agabos and his daugther Makeda Queen of Sheba, who married Salomon. Etièl is what the Greek mythology has re-elaborated in the character of “Atlas”, the Ethiopian King holding the whole world.
While the Ethiopian Synaxaryum declares Melchezedek as son of Shem through Kainan (Pagumen 3), the Ethiopian Andemtà of the Psalm 109 (110) says that he is a prophet from Kam. Therefore, he is half Semitic (predominant) and half Hamitic, as it is the genealogy of Christ Himself, having fathers from Sem and mothers from Kam. In fact, it is written that Melchizedek is “made like unto the Son of God“.
In this way, he sets the same racial standard of Ethiopian people as original people, having inside the whole genetical spectrum of Noah, from his Blessing (Shem) to his Curse (Ham). That’s why Emperor Haile Selassie I said about Ethiopia:
“Her culture and social structure were founded in the mingling of her original culture and civilization with the Hamitic and Semitic migrations into Africa from the Arabian peninsula, and, in fact, today, our language, Amharic, is a member of that large family of Hamitic and Semitic tongues and. therefore, intimately related to Hebrew and Arabic.” (Selected Speeches p. 113)
(Artwork by Ras Abba Yehuda)
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Ethiopia in Western Culture

Herodotus – Histories

Herodotus is commonly considered the father of Western historiography, and certainly one of the oldest historians of mankind. In his works, of course, the nobility of the Ethiopians could not be ignored.

In the Third Book of his “Histories”, Herodotus describes the expansionist desires of King Cambyses of Persia, and his vain attempt to conquer Ethiopia.

“After this Cambyses planned three expeditions, against the Carchedonians,​ and against the Ammonians, and against the ‘long-lived’​ Ethiopians, who dwelt on the Libyan coast of the southern sea. Taking counsel, he resolved to send his fleet against the Carchedonians and a part of his land army against the Ammonians; to Ethiopia he would send first spies, to see what truth there were in the story of a Table of the Sun in that country, and to spy out all else besides, under the pretext of bearing gifts for the Ethiopian king.” (Chapter 17)

In chapter 20 Herodotus teaches the superiority of Ethiopian people over any other:

οἱ δὲ Αἰθίοπες οὗτοι, ἐς τοὺς ἀποπέμπει ὁ Καμβύσης, λέγονται εἶναι μέγιστοι καὶ κάλλιστοι ἀνθρώπων πάντων.

“The Ethiopians to whom this embassy was sent by Cambyses, are said to be the biggest and handsomest men in the whole world.”

Herodotus speaks also about the peculiar and unique character of Ethiopian customs and culture:

“In their customs they differ greatly from the rest of mankind, and particularly in the way they choose their kings; for they find out the man who is the biggest of all the citizens, and of strength equal to his size, and appoint him to rule over them.”

In chapter XXI Herodotus also describes the nobility of Ethiopians and their King, and their disinterest in wars of aggression and conquest of other people’s territories:

“The Icthyophagi on reaching this people, delivered the gifts to the king of the country, and spoke as follows: ‘Cambyses, king of the Persians, anxious to become thy ally and sworn friend, has sent us to hold converse with thee, and to bear thee the gifts thou seest, which are the things wherein he himself delights the most’. Hereon the Ethiopian, who knew they came as spies, made answer: ‘The king of the Persians sent you not with these gifts because he much desired to become my sworn friend- nor is the account which ye give of yourselves true, for ye are come to search out my kingdom. Also your king is not a just man- for were he so, he had not coveted a land which is not his own, nor brought slavery on a people who never did him any wrong. Bear him this bow, and say: <<The king of the Ethiopians thus advises the king of the Persians when the Persians can pull a bow of this strength thus easily, then let him come with an army of superior strength against the long-lived Ethiopians >>, till then, let him thank the gods that they have not put it into the heart of the sons of the Ethiopians to covet countries which do not belong to them’.”

In chapter 22 another superiority of the Ethiopians is also highlighted, longevity, as they were called “long-lived”. The King of Ethiopia asked “what the Persian king was wont to eat, and to what age the longest-lived of the Persians had been known to attain. They told him that the king ate bread, and described the nature of wheat- adding that eighty years was the longest term of man’s life among the Persians. Hereat the Ethiopian remarked, ‘It does not surprise me, if they fed on dirt, that they die so soon’.”

In chapter 23 the King explains the diet of Ethiopians and relate their long life to a special Ethiopian fountain where they washed, i.e. the River of Eden and the famous “Fountain of Eternal Youth”, that we can find in other books of classic literature:

“The Icthyophagi then in their turn questioned the king concerning the term of life, and diet of his people, and were told that most of them lived to be a 120 years old, while some even went beyond that age- they ate boiled flesh, and had for their drink nothing but milk. When the Icthyophagi showed wonder at the number of the years, he led them to a fountain, wherein when they had washed, they found their flesh all glossy and sleek, as if they had bathed in oil- and a scent came from the spring like that of violets. The water was so weak, they said, that nothing would float in it, neither wood, nor any lighter substance, but all went to the bottom. If the account of this fountain be true, it would be their constant use of the water from it which makes them so long-lived.”

The wealth of the Ethiopian Kingdom was so special that “when they quitted the fountain the king led them to a prison, where the prisoners were all of them bound with fetters of gold.”

According to chapter 25, irritated by the words of the Ethiopian King, Cambyses decided to march against him, towards the heavenly extremities of the earth:

“When the spies had now seen everything, they returned back to Egypt, and made report to Cambyses, who was stirred to anger by their words. Forthwith he set out on his march against the Ethiopians without having made any provision for the sustenance of his army, or reflected that he was about to wage war in the uttermost parts of the earth.”

But the military expedition was a curse in itself, and failed much before having reached that land, spreading death and disaster among the Persian army:

“Before, however, he had accomplished one-fifth part of the distance, all that the army had in the way of provisions failed; whereupon the men began to eat the sumpter beasts, which shortly failed also. If then, at this time, Cambyses, seeing what was happening, had confessed himself in the wrong, and led his army back, he would have done the wisest thing that he could after the mistake made at the outset; but as it was, he took no manner of heed, but continued to march forwards. So long as the earth gave them anything, the soldiers sustained life by eating the grass and herbs; but when they came to the bare sand, a portion of them were guilty of a horrid deed: by tens they cast lots for a man, who was slain to be the food of the others. When Cambyses heard of these doings, alarmed at such cannibalism, he gave up his attack on Ethiopia, and retreating by the way he had come, reached Thebes, after he had lost vast numbers of his soldiers. From Thebes he marched down to Memphis, where he dismissed the Greeks, allowing them to sail home. And so ended the expedition against Ethiopia.”

This confirms thus the ancient fame of political independence and invincible freedom of the Ethiopians, coming out their divine righteousness.

 

Categories
Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

Il Popolo d’Italia, Newspaper Founded by B.Mussolini – November 1930

“Popolo D’Italia”, Italian Newspaper founded by Benito Mussolini
4th of November 1930
“TAFARI MAKONNEN CROWNED EMPEROR
The festive cerimony in the Ethiopian capital city.
With most sumptuous solemnity the Emperor Haile Selassie I has been crowned yesterday morning, by the envoy of the Patriarch of Alexandria, Emperor and King of Kings of Ethiopia. The cerimony had a grandeur that surpasses any imagination, and that has reunited in one splendid frame the lavish ancient magnificence perpetuated by the tradition, and the new aspects that our time and the contacts with our world start to impress on these ancient feudal and warrior people. (…)
In the sky, six airplanes fly: one of them is a gift of the Italian government to the Emperor, its pilot is captain Marazzini. The cannons fire the last blanks for the glory of the King of Kings, so joyfully ascended to the throne of Salomon’s descent.“
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Teachings

Interview with “Le Journal” of Paris, July 1936

P. Lecler, Le Journal (Paris, France), 3rd of July 1936
“The Emperor of Ethiopia granted me an interview of a great hour, in the small living room of his apartment at Carleton hotel, in Geneva.
How sad and discouraged he seemed to me after the quarrel he caused during Tuesday’s session. It seemed evident to me that he had just burned his last cartridges and that he realized the vanity of the last efforts he had just made to induce the League of Nations to bring belated support to his country.
His lips emitted words full of courage, but the deep sadness on his face and his look of weariness belied his words.
His usual black attire seemed to have taken on a striking significance; he discussed at length the possibility of his return to Ethiopia – probably to Gorè – in case the League of Nations would answer his call. But he has been forced to accept the possibility of a definitive failure which would mean perpetual exile for him.
‘I have done the impossible’, he said sadly, ‘to present my case after many delays from an angle which should decide the League of Nations to keep its commitments. I still want to believe in the active sympathy of the English people and that of other nations, but it is diplomatic chicanery that makes the exercise of justice difficult. I will remain in Geneva until the end of this conference, and, if the question is adjourned, I will return in September to present my defense again’.
‘And where do you plan to reside in the meantime ? In Geneva ?’
‘You know the Swiss do not want’
When I asked him if it was true that he had requested permission to stay in the country, he replied, as if moved by some vestige of his past pride: ‘It is not my habit to impose my presence to anyone’
Haile Selassie will prefer to return to England, and try to raise the necessary funds there to return to Ethiopia and resume a defensive action.
‘I have just received a letter from Ras Imru who is in Goré and which confirms to me that he is in the process of bringing together all our forces in this region, but that we are lacking in armaments. The Italians have spread this legend that we no longer have any government in the West, because the Gallas are not our friends. Yet almost the entire population of Addis Ababa was Galla. I will be welcome in Goré as in any other region of our country, because otherwise it would have been impossible for me to organize the energetic defense of Ethiopia until the time when we were defeated by Italian gases.‘
‘Do you plan to return back to Ethiopia, no matter what ?’
‘Yes, if the League of Nations acts, or if I can collect the funds necessary to our defence. Otherwise it would be futile to try to continue the struggle.’
The question was then asked, whether such activities in England would not be considered an anti-Italian campaign, contrary to the conditions under which the Emperor was allowed to stay in Britain.
‘No conditions were imposed on me. Certainly, I am anti-Italian, it is impossible for me to deny it.’
A well-informed personality, who saw the letter sent to the Emperor in Palestine before he embarked for England, assured me that it specified, in terms which required no reply, that the English wanted the Emperor abstained from all military activity, as long as he was in the country.
I pointed out to the Emperor that he had lost a lot of weight since I had seen him in Ethiopia. He smiled sadly and said, ‘I have hardly slept since I left Ethiopia’.
‘Is it the loss of your empire or your current situation that obsesses you?’
The answer came shortly after.
‘It is completely indifferent to me to be emperor or not. I would be perfectly content to be just a simple citizen. But the sufferings of my people haunt me. I know what happened in Tripoli, and I have doubts about the current lot of my unfortunate subjects. It is only for them that I continue the fight, for them and for the triumph of justice.’
‘And if all your efforts will be vain at the end, what will you do ?’
‘What can I do? I will eat my heart out in exile’
‘Where do you plan to retire?’
‘I did not want to think about it yet. Maybe in England, maybe in Jerusalem; it will no longer matter if there is no more hope’.
‘But what do you plan to do after that active life that I have seen you doing in Ethiopia ? Do you plan to write, to give lectures ? Maybe you will go to America?’
‘Maybe I’ll give lectures later. I have, in fact, received offers to go to America. But how could this be useful to Ethiopia? If all is lost, how can anything I do matter’.
‘And your sons?’
‘The youngest will in any case remain in England. I want them to study there. The oldest will accompany me wherever I go.’
‘I suppose that your bitterness must be deep…’
‘I have no rancour, nothing but sadness. I repeat, if Ethiopia sinks, the League of Nations and civilization itself will sink with her.’
Categories
Ethiopia in the Bible

The Book of Henok

According to Ethiopian Tradition, in the beginning of humanity there was no written word, and the first prophet and father, Adam the Ethiopian, gave his prophetical teaching orally only, without writing any book.
The first to receive the gift of Scripture and the knowledge of the Letters, and therefore to be the first scribe ever, was Henok the Ethiopian, heir of Adam the Ethiopian as sovereign of the earth, that came through the 7th generation of men.
The Book of Enoch is the first form of literature that has been manifested among human beings, and chrologically it is the first Book of The Ethiopian Bible. In fact, before the books of Moses, two scriptures were given to Mankind: the Book of Enok and the Book of Yob, son of Esaw.
In Jubilees 4:16-18 it is written about Enok:
“he called his name Enoch. And he was the first among men that are born on earth who learnt writing and knowledge and wisdom (…) And he was the first to write a testimony.”
Therefore, according to the Ethiopian Tradition, the Bible, i.e. the Word of the God, constitutes the first Book of Humanity, pre-dating any other human book, Egyptian or whatever. That’s why Emperor Haile Selassie I stated:
“We regard the Bible above all other books”
The Book of Enoch has been excluded by the biblical canon of all the Christian Churches of the earth, except the Ethiopian Orthodox. The integral text of the book is kept in Ethiopic Ge’ez only. We know that he was considered as canonical by many important apostolic fathers of Church, even latin ones (like Tertullian, that wrote a specific apologia about it), and it is explicitly mentioned and quoted by the Apostle Jude (1,14-15) – brother of the Lord as son of Joseph from his previous marriage – like a part of the Bible he knew and recognized at that time:
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.'”
This passage was literally taken from Enoch 1:9. Indeed, the book of Enok is quoted several other times in the Gospels and in the words of the Apostles, and it is the main and oldest apocalictic reference of the Revelation of John about the “millennium” of the royal kingdom of the Messiah upon earth, described in Revelation chapter 20. With the romanization of faith and the politically motivated refusal of the doctrine of millenarism (that was considered dangerous for the stability of Roman kingdoms), the book of Henok suddenly disappeared, like the prophet himself, about whom it is written: “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found” (Hebrews 11, 5).
The presence of this Book within the Ethiopian Canon declares the Ethiopian Bible as the only complete version of the Bible, and also the oldest. On the contrary, the absence of the first book of the Bible in any other biblical tradition proclaims it guilty, as it is written:
“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22,19)
Enoch was taken by God and translated into heaven, to see the ark-typical ark-anes by which Egziabhier created everything, i.e. the Letters. He therefore learned the Science of the Ladders ( ሰዋስው Sewas(e)w ), as we call the vocabulary Book of the Ladders. It is the same concept of the scales for musical theory, like a tool to go up and down in expression and declension of semantics.
Henok was the son of the patriarch Yared, whose name means “comes down”, from the ge’ez verb “Werede” ወረደ. As it is written in Jubilees 4,14:
“and he called his name Jared; for in his days the angels of the Lord descended on the earth, those who are named the Watchers”.
The Book of Enoch explains the backstory of the deluge, when the Vigilant Angels came down upon the earth and taught secret magic knowledges to the people, that went crazy and corrupted their customs. The Vigilants also took human women and had sex with them, procreating the monstrous forbidden hybrid of the Giants, therefore forcing Egziabhier to exterminate everyone except 8 souls, the family of Noah, grandson of Henok.
In a time when the rebellious angels were to teach magical and hidden arts to the immature mankind, because of His Holiness Henok has received the secrets of the Supreme Art of Word, that he knew in the fullness of its states: Thought, Spoken, Written. Through this Original Creative Art, Egziabhier created the world; through this Ultimate Martial Art, Egziabhier will destroy the world.
The existence of the Book of Enoch, that was Ethiopian in race like the first man, only among the Ethiopians, only in Ethiopian language, confirms that the original language of Adam, spoken until the Tower of Babylon, was ethiopian, and only through Ethiopian Tradition we can acquire that original knowledge, as it written:
“For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.” (Zephenya 3,9)
Henok is also known by the Egyptian culture as “Tut” the first scribe, having the shape of an Ibis, because of his long peak like a pen. The muslim people recognize him as Hanuk or Idrissa. Idrissa recalls the name by which He is known among the Greek, “Hermes TRISmegistus” (Thrice Great).
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

The Chicago Defender – 8th of November 1930

“CORONATION OF RAS TAFARI MARKED WITH SPLENDOUR
The oldest kingdom in the world has just crowned its 334th ruler. Sunday, at daybreak, the coronation ceremony that made Ras Tafari Makonnen Emperor Haile Selassie I, Lord King of Kings of Ethiopia, Conquering Lion of Judah and the elect of God, was performed amid the splendors of the old world that transformed this city of 60.000 into something approaching a page from the ‘Arabian Nights’.
It was such a scene that has not been witnessed in many centuries in Africa, and rarely if ever before in any other part of the world.
By this ceremony, that has its beginning three weeks ago, when the new ruler with his wife, Princess Waziru Menen, opened into the ancient period of prayer that has marked the coronation of new Ethiopian rulers for centuries past.
Then, following a series of ceremonies of lesser importance, the ras and his princess prepared themselves Saturday afternoon for an all night vigil in the Cathedral of St. George, where they remained in one long, continuous prayer for strength to rule their people justly, until the break of dawn Sunday morning when, led by the priests and high priests of the kingdom, Ras Tafari and Princess Waziru passed through a long line of bowing subjects to the newly built coronation hall where the Coptict archbishop of Ethiopia placed a crown of gold and jewels upon the head of Ras Tafari.
‘This crown shall be the crown of thy glory’, chanted the archbishop in a clear voice and in the picturesque language of Ethiopia, and the emperor answered, ‘I am the least of thy brehren’.
(…)
Absolute quiet reigned throughout the town during the ceremony, Although 300,000 souls had crowded into a territory that normally housed and fed just 60,000, there was the peace and quiet of an ordinary Sunday morning. The voices of the archbishop and the emperor could be heard clearly by the throng outside the hall (none but priests and high officials of state were admitted to the ceremony). Then when the last word was spoken, and the new emperor, mighty ruler of the Lions of Judah, arose from his kneeling position before the altar, a mighty cheer went up that rebounded against the three hills upon which Addis Ababa is situated,, 8.000 feet above sea level, and sent roaring echoes into the jungle. Cymbals and drums that had remained quiet during the ceremony took up their jubilant heating, and voices once again resumed their hurrahs for their master.
Out upon a raised platform, the emperor greeted his subjects in the order of their importance. First came the rasses of Ethiopia’s 30 states, many of whom were bowing in complete submission to the King of Kings of Ethiopia for the first time in their lives. Then came the priests and other high churchmen, followed by dignitaries of foreign countries. The Duke of Gloucester, son of the king of England, led the delegations of foreign countries. (…)
Ethiopia is one of the most unique and picturesque countries of the world. The country is believed to have been founded more than 2.000 years before the birth of Christ. The reigning house of which Ras Tafari comes was founded, according to authentic history, when the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon to seek advice from him about the country.”
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Teachings Italo-Ethiopian War

Ethiopia the Last Citadel of Collective Security – 1936

“Do the peoples of the world not yet realize that by fighting on until the bitter end I am not only performing my sacred duty to my people but standing guard in the last citadel of collective security ? Are they too blind to see that I have responsibilities to the whole of humanity to face ? I must still hold on until my tardy allies appear. And if they never come, then I say prophetically and without bitterness the west will perish.” #QHS
April 1936
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Testimonies

A.Morrison, “Ebony” Magazine, Chicago USA – 1963

Ebony, U.S. Magazine
Chicago, December 1963
“Emperor Haile, standing in New York hotel suit where he granted exclusive interview, is also called King of Kings, Conquering Lion of Judah, Elect of God and Defender of the Faith. A newsman who met the Emperor in Africa once observed: ‘When he turns those eyes on you, you get a funny feeling like you were going to melt’.”
(…)
“If there is such a thing as a ‘kingly air’, the Emperor has it”, observed an important U.S. State Department official who accompanied the five-foot-four monarch on his eight-day U.S. visit”
(…)
“On a cool October morning, Emperor Haile Selassie fulfilled in part the biblical prophecy that Ethiopia shall one day ‘stretch forth its hand…’. On that occasion, the little man who for one dramatic hour in 1936 became the conscience of the world, extended the hand of brotherhood to 20 million Americans of African descent, urging them to have faith in their future as free men and to press on with their current struggle for freedom until it is won. He also urged American Negroes to recognize their stake in Africa’s fight against colonialism.
The Emperor’s eight-day state visit (his second) to the United States stirred images that still lingered after 27 years, images of a bewhiskered monarch astride a white stallion leading barefooted Ethiopians against the invading Italian army. Ethiopian spears dueling Italian machine guns. Rocks challenging aerial bombs. Flaming patriotism versus poison gas. And Emperor Haile Selassie pleading to the League of Nations for aid and accurately predicting that Ethiopia’s fall would be a bell tolling the death of the League.
The events of 1935-36 haunted Emperor Selassie during his visit to Philadelphia, Washington and New York, flitting in and out of his talks with President Kennedy and other Americans. (…)
This was my second meeting with the legendary King of Kings. The first confrontation had taken place in 1961 in the richly-ornamented study of his gilded palace in Addis Ababa. (…)
My second meeting was more brief. Emperor Selassie displayed a remarkable composure under rapid-fire questioning and was prepared to continue the interview indefinitely if his schedule had permitted. He apologized for closing the interview, explaining that New York City had arranged a ticker tape welcoming for him and he ought to be there for it. (…)
“Emperor Selassie is the 225th head of the world’s oldest independent state, a 3000-year-old nation that, as one observer put it, ’emerged when England and France were unconceived and the United States inconceivable’. But while contemplating his nation’s extended past, the 72-year-old monarch does not lost sight of the present.”
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Teachings

The Modern is not above the Ancient

“Since the way of living of people at any period is closely tied up with the particular conditions prevailing at the time, we cannot look back to Ethiopia prior to the 20th Century and criticize the manner of administration of our forefathers. The reasons and difficulties that made the way of living then what it was can be accurately known.”
Don’t criticize I&I biblical fathers through your modern age mindset. Understand the different needs and opportunities of our Ancients through serious and original Ethiopian education.
Categories
Haile Selassie I - Teachings

Fear Egziabhier only

“ETHIOPIA DEFIANT AS ITALY PLANS TO GRAB AFRICA
‘Ethiopia is not afraid of Italy. We are not looking for war, but if Italy invades our country, we are willing to die to the last man’.
Thus did Emperor Haile Selassie, ruler of the only absolute monarchy in the world today, and a descendant of King Solomon, answer Mussolini’s ultimatum.
Following this declaration, the Emperor instructed his envoy at Rome, Negradas Yesus, to say that Ethiopia would not pay one cent of the $44.900 indemnity demanded by Italy for the death of Italian colonials, nor meet the harsh demands of Italy.”